Blaze Your Own Trail - Episode 17: From Humble Beginnings To The 1% Life With Sam Bakhtiar

Episode Date: March 27, 2020

In this episode with Sam we discuss: His early years in Iran His humble beginning in the states Moving to L.A. Starting his business after grad school 3 tips to help you start a business What he's up to next Connect with Sam: Website: https://sambakhtiar.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sambakhtiar/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialSamBakhtiar/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_z9K2VaB3DNBxxyzkoIIjw/featured One Percenter Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/one-percenter-podcast/id1457883099 Follow us on IG for clips, behind the scenes content and more! https://www.instagram.com/jordanjmendoza/ Installing strategic sales systems & processes will stop the constant revenue rollercoaster you might be facing which is attainable through our 6 Week Blazing Business Revenue Coaching ProgramBook a discovery call with Jordan now to learn more! Are you an entrepreneur?Join my FREE Group Coaching Community where we have live calls, Q&A and more! Our Trailblazer Ecosystem also enables you to network with other entrepreneurs and creator hub eliminates multiple subscriptions and logins creating a one stop shop to take action!Use code: FOUNDING100 for 12 months access FREE and Founding pricing for life! (While Supplies Last)Join now! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, you'll learn about Sam's upbringing, what he experienced when he first came to the United States, and all the hard work that he's actually put in to get to where he is today. So I hope you enjoy the episode. And I hope you all are safe and well during this unprecedented time with everything that's happening with COVID-19. I can't wait to talk to you after the episode. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail. podcast. This is your host, Jordan Mendoza. And I've got a very special guest on the show today. His name is Sam Bakhtiar. And Sam, just for the audience, I just want to have you give a quick intro on, you know, kind of who you are and what you do. Well, today, I'm the CEO of the Camp

Transformation Centers. We are an international franchise that we serve 100, you know, 120 locations. I'm also CEO of 1% Nutrition, a supplement company. I'm a father. I'm a husband and, you know, I'm just, you know, an immigrant who came to this country for an opportunity. That's awesome, man. I appreciate you sharing that. And so in hearing that, most people that are listening will assume that you're a pretty busy guy. So, again, I wanted to say thanks so much for taking the time with me today. So, you know, one of the things I'd love to do on the show is really rewind, right?

Because you've got a lot of success today, but I want to really paint the picture for the audience. of kind of, you know, what your upbringing was like in a little bit of the journey that has led you to your success today. So if you wouldn't mind, can you tell the audience kind of, you know, where you grew up, what your childhood was like a little bit? And then we'll kind of jump into some other questions. Well, Jordan, I was born in a third world country called Iran. And, you know, Iran has always been in some kind of a conflict in the Middle East. It's always some kind of a war, some kind of a drama. And it wasn't any different when I was born.

I was born. And soon after that, my parents split up when I was three years old. My dad came to Canada. I never saw him again. And then soon after that, we went to war with Iraq and Saddam Hussein. And every night, man, I mean, we heard sirens. There were bombs. And, you know, it's not like the United States.

When you go to war, you actually hear the war. You actually see the planes and you see the bombs and things like that. That was my early childhood and my mom didn't want her only son to die in the war. So we packed up our luggage, I'm sorry, one luggage, $500 in one luggage. And we came to United States in 1985. It was a few years of war. Wow. So got to the States in 85.

So can you tell me a little bit, you know, when you were in those moments, right? When you're literally there, like you said, you hear bombs. You can hear the planes. I'm sure you saw smoke. You probably experienced deceased people. I mean, you're in the heart of it. So as a kid being in there, what were some things that kind of went through your head on some days? Honestly, man, it's weird to say that, but I wasn't even thinking about the war.

You know, I wasn't, you know, I just knew that, you know, I was born into war. So I thought that was just way of life. So I didn't know, you know, anything other than war. you know, as soon as I remember, we were war, we're getting bombed on, there was some kind of a conflict. And I didn't know anything different, you know, so a lot of people said, well, do you have PTSD from their childhood or things like that? I don't know. I don't know if I had that or not. I just, I just know that, you know, it's something that I experienced, and I don't remember exactly. I was too focused on school and too focused on playing soccer, you know, to focus on anything else.

Wow. And that's amazing because, like you said, a lot of people would think there were some repercussions by being an environment like that. But it's amazing that you were able to just kind of, you know, adapt, right? And then play sports and kind of keep your head out of it. Now, was your mom foundational in that mindset, do you believe? You know, my mom was always too busy working as a single mom. So I was around my grandpa and grandma a lot. You know, um, And I just knew that nobody in our family liked the regime, like the Iranian regime. So we always talked about the regime and how they're messing up the country, you know, and all that. But I was too busy, like I said, studying and, you know, playing with my friends. And I'm playing soccer to realize, man, anything was wrong. Okay. And that's definitely awesome, man.

So you get to the States in 85 and you get here one luggage, 500 bucks. So what was that initial experience like? And I know you dealt with some poverty when you first got here. I was shocking because when my mom said, we're going to go to the States. You know, I was, I did some research, you know, and say, you know, where we're going to go? What is the United States like? And I was sort of watching some American shows.

Back then, there was shows like Dallas, Dynasty, and the A-Team. And it was like the Kardashians of today where everybody has like, mansions and bent leys and swimming pools and all kinds of stuff so I thought when I come to America it's going to be like that And they never showed the ghetto they never showed their rough neighborhoods and crazy the only relative we had is my uncle my mom's brother He picked us up in a Pittsburgh airport and took us a little town called Sharon Pennsylvania Which is in the middle of nowhere VA and we were the only minority in the entire region and And my uncle had a convenience store literally in the worst neighborhood I've ever experienced. Brick rose outside of his convenience store were pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers.

You know, we saw people get shot, you know, on the street, you know, all that kind of stuff. And that was my first, you know, experience of what United States was. I was like, wow, I thought we were going to, you know, Beverly Hills, but we came to where those brick rows and abandoned buildings and prostitutes and drug dealers outside. Wow. And you're like, hey, this isn't like any movie I've seen, right? I'm sure it was a big shock. So how long did you live in the Pittsburgh area? I live in the Pittsburgh area. I'm going to talk graduated from Penn State. So I went to high school there. I went to college, you know, there. And then I moved to a college. California in 1996 after I graduated from Penn State. Okay. And so you graduate. So what did you study at Penn State?

Well, you know, I studied premedicine and nutrition because my mom always says, Sammy, you have to be a doctor if you want to be successful. And so I said premedent nutrition but the whole time, I was feeling out. I fell in love with family love with body transfer mission. So I took all the classes that taught me and that had been biochemistry, nutrition, you know, everything that I need. to know to be able to get my body stronger, faster, leaner. Okay. That's awesome.

And so is that kind of when you fell in love with exercise and nutrition working out? Yeah, I fell in love with it actually after I got cut from the eighth grade basketball team. And I told my mom, I want to go back to my old country. I said, this country is not good. I don't have any friends. Everybody makes fun of me. You know, I didn't make the team. So I went to, my mom said, no, we don't have that choice.

Go to the boys' club and get better at basketball, try, and make sure. So as I went to the boys club, I saw these people in the wait room, and I'm like, wait a second, I want to look like that. You know, back then, the Arnold movies were hot, you know, the Rocky movies were hot, and I wanted to look like them. And I started working out, and I fell in love with it. I fell in love with it because not only what they did for me on the outside, my physical source, started to develop a little baby, my soul developed a little bit of strength, but I had what it did for my self-esteem, what it did for my confidence, and how it made me look at life a whole different way. And that's when I knew that I wanted to do that for everyone else.

That's awesome. And so you started getting some muscles. You started getting a little bit more confident. And then you finish school. You come out to California. So what was that experience like going from, you know, Penn State coming out, coming out west? because as you know, it's a whole new world, right? When you come from the East Coast to the West Coast.

You're not online. So, you know, I'm from Sharon, Pennsylvania where if you make, you know, $2,000 a month, you're doing very well there. Very well there. You can buy homes for $30,000, $40,000 to some neighborhoods there. So I was used to that. I mean, you drove anything, anything more than, if you drove a Honda or anything better, you were a drug dealer.

You know, so after that, you know, I came to, you know, Los Angeles to go to go to grad school. And when I got to L.A., I was like dumbfounded because I've seen all the cars that I've dreamed about just everywhere on the road, BMWs and Mercedes and Porsches and Bittlies and Ferraris. And I mean, my mouth was like, what is going on? I can't believe this. like, you know, I've never seen a car like this. And it wasn't like anything crazy. It was just like a Mercedes. You know, you know, there's like one Mercedes in the whole town and that's an

attorney or something, you know. So right there, it expanded my mind of what was possible. Wow, wait a second, you know, you know, these things are possible because when I was in a small pond, those things weren't possible. I was like, there's no way I can never get up in the scenes. Like there's no way I can ever have that. I went to the mall. for the first time. I went to a mall called South Coast Plaza here for the first time. And it's like a very high-end mall. And Jordan, I couldn't even, I didn't even almost didn't make it to the mall because I was outside just staring at the cars and look inside the windows like they were over. So I was like, you know, I was just salivating. I cannot believe these these cars exist here and

people just driving them. Then when I finally went to the mall, I was even more dumbfounded. I was like, wait a second, a t-shirt cost $80? You know, oh my God, a shoes cost $300. Like, to me, that was like, who buys that? It was, it was beyond my imagination, beyond, you know, what I was used to. And again, it expanded my Verizon, expanded like, wait a second, you know, making that kind of money is possible. You know, having those things is possible, you know. So the environment always, always extends you or decreases you.

You know what I mean? So that's what I would say. If you want to change your life and change your proximity, you change your environment. You know, it's hard to do the right thing in the right, in the wrong environment. Absolutely. No, and I can relate to that, man. I grew up in North Portland, Oregon. And very similarly, we were on food stamps.

And a lot of it really was predicated on, like my mom was born with one lung. And so she was a woman that for her to do anything physical, for her to have a job, it really wasn't possible because she was on oxygen. And she raised five boys somehow, right? And, you know, when you're in those environments, I can relate to that a lot because I remember thinking when I was a kid, I was like, you know, I'll probably work at like the department store. You know, like that's like what success is going to look like for me. And it wasn't until I got a sales job and I started traveling around the country and I started going to new environments where it was very similar to you.

I looked at it and my perception changed, right? It was it was literally like a paradigm shift when I started seeing things in a new light, right? When you get out of those environments that it really gives you kind of a scarcity mindset, you know, when you're like, well, I guess this is what's going to be like, right? But when you have that shift, and it really is a shift, you know, in your mindset, it's crazy what can happen. That's great. I agree 100%. And so tell me a little bit. So you got here, you went to graduate school. And so after graduate school, what was kind of your first step? You know, when you graduated, you finished all your coursework.

What did you say to yourself that you were going to start up? So I graduated. I literally get my diploma to my mom. And so, right, mom, go back to all your Middle Eastern, you know, that your son is a doctor because that's what you wanted. But I'm going to open up my own gym. I want to change people's lives through exercise and nutrition, you know, and I had $20,000 saved up. And with all the years of working as a personal trainer and as a bouncer at Penn State

and all that kind of stuff. And then I needed another $20,000 to start. And I borrowed that $20,000 from my mom. I have $40,000 to start. you know, getting started cost me $35,000, you know, and I only have $5,000 in the bank the first day I started. And I had $30,000 due in 30 days. So I, you know, I had no choice to start hustling to start becoming a salesperson, to start becoming the best marketer because if that business would have failed, I would have to move back to Pennsylvania with my mom. And to me, that was never a choice.

That was never an option. I pulled myself in a situation where, you know, if I lost, I would have lost the day. So I had no choice to perform. And I think in life, sometimes you need to put yourself in a position, burn the boats, you know, burn the bridges. So you can't look back and you can't go back. You know, you know, a dog would say, well, you got to have a safety plan. You have a safety plan. You know, I don't believe in that.

You know, especially if you're young. You have a safety plan. if you have family and you have other, you know, other, you know, responsibilities, things like that. But if you're young, you want to go after something, burn the boats, burn the bridges, go all in, focus, make shit happen. I love that, man. And I love that, I love that attitude in that mindset, right? Because, like, you didn't have a, there wasn't no other thing.

You weren't going back to Sharon, Pennsylvania. That wasn't an environment that you wanted to go back into. And so I love the fact that you just said, you know what, I'm going to hustle, I'm going to grind, I'm going to sell. So what year was this, just for some context? This was year 2000, right beginning of 2000. Okay. Okay, so this is 2000, so this is still early internet, right?

This is, so when you're talking about selling and hustling, like, you're knocking on doors probably, right? You're going to businesses. You're doing it the grassroots style, and that's really where I got good at sales was that face-to-face communication. Here and 100 people tell you know every day, like being out there and grinding. So can you tell the audience a little bit about how that experience for you was? And then also, I would love to know if you believe it was foundational in your success today. Well, absolutely, it was foundational, you know, because, you know, if you want to be successful, you just have to talk to as many people as possible and not as many doors as possible.

And you have to learn to inter-personal relationship and skills. You know, some things that just cannot be done online. I'm sorry. you know um and so the way i'm marketing was i would just walk every weekend like 10 miles in the heels and i will put a door hanger in every every you know in every home you know because i couldn't afford to take you know send it through the post mail you know and you know and you know and i would get four or five 10 calls i'll be so happy you know but you know literally you know 10 miles every weekend you know i did that you know we you started you know putting up you know you know um you know

body fat analyzing stations, you know, across in the malls or in department stores or grocery stores, you know, you know, sit there all day, you know, you know, eight hours, you know, talking to people and, you know, taking their body fat and see what we can do for them, you know, cold calling, you know, just cold calling, you know, offering people three personal training sessions and body fat analysis, just getting in front of them, you know, show them value, showing what we can do for them. It wasn't as easy it is today when you can put an ad in there's a hundred leaves that you have right in front of you. It was literally like you actually have to do physical work. That's it man. And I really believe that that's where you're built, right? You're built out

in the field. You're built hearing people yelling at you like get out of my grass, right? Like, you know, you just woke up my baby, you know, all those things. Because I started doing door to door sales at 14. And when I tell you, it was probably the best thing that I could have ever done at 14 because it set the foundation on my sales career. Because hearing no to me is like, okay, that's great. Next opportunity, right? That's what no stands for to me. It doesn't mean like, I'm going to go cry on the curb, you know, which I wanted to do at 14 when I heard 50 people tell me, no, I did want to cry. But I came back the next day, right? And there's something big about showing up, especially when all of the cards are stacked against you, which was your situation.

So I love the fact, man, that you hit the pavement. You laid the foundations or the tracks, if you will, that probably really were instrumental in your business starting to grow. I had no choice. I really had money. And like I said, if you always have a choice, you always have a plan B, and you're never going to give a plan A. everything you have. You know what I mean? You can never plan A, you know, if you always are, you know, have one foot in, one foot out. And you never give that 100% to what you're supposed to do and what you really want to do. You know, I knew that my passion was transforming people. That's

always been my passion. To this day, all the books that you see, they're either, you know, nutritional books, you know, self-help books, you know, or business books. I'm always, all about transforming. I'm all about becoming better. I'm all about evolving. And I want to show what I've done for myself to other people. To me, nothing is more fulfilling than helping other people become successful. That's awesome. And I definitely love that, man. That's definitely says a lot about your character, right, especially from coming from humble beginnings and literally starting your business from the ground floor up. And so I'm really interested to hear when you opened your first gym, I want you to, for the audience, just describe what

that feeling was like, you know, getting those, getting that first set of keys, hiring your first person, your employee. What was that experience like for you? It was, it was just crazy because now I'm making big boy decisions for the first time, you know, and I'm like scared out of my mind. You know, I'm like, oh my God, what if, what if, what if? And for people who listen to your podcast, you know, if you just go, what if, what if, what if, you'll never go anywhere in life. You know, if something doesn't scare you, then, you know, it's not going to make you grow. If it scares you, it tells you, you're getting out of your comfort zone is something you need to do. You know, and at that time, it was crazy.

You know, I wrote my, you know, the first check I wrote was for $35,000. And I just borrowed $20,000 from my mom. I had $40,000 in my account. The first truck I wrote was $35,000. I'm like, holy cow. I'm like, what am I getting myself into? You know, oh, my God. You know, I've never written a check over $800 before that.

And that was for my rent, you know. And now, you know, we're running big boy check. So it's absolutely mind-boggling. Okay. And so you open up the gym. Was that 35 grand? So just for the audience, what did that all entail? What was that covering the cost of the space?

Was it some equipment that you're financing? What went into that 35 to get you started? So my first gym was inside of LA Fitness. LA Fitness didn't have their own personal trainers back in the day. So they self-contracted company to take over their personal training and the company paid rent. $35,000. All that included was the first month's rent,

a security deposit. Wow. So the rent was $17.5. And so that means that in 30 days, another $17.5 was when we do plus payroll. You know, I needed trainers and managers and things like that. So I hire people and like, shit. I hope I can pay you in 30 days. Right.

And so what was it like? Was this your first time like having this big of a team? Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. I was in one-man show before when I was in school. It was me as a personal trainer training clients one-on-one. There was nobody else. And now I'm having five or six trainers that's going to work for me. I have a manager that's going to work for me and have responsibilities. And for five, six years, you know, in business, you know, everybody, you know, had a life. Everybody drove nice cars. All my trainers had nicer cars, nicer clothes. And they actually, you know, went out and did things. For the first five, six years, I worked 70, 80 hours a week. You know, I kept driving my old beat up Honda Civic, you know, and, you know, I really didn't buy anything for myself. You know, it was, you know, it was, I was just on my, I'm like, oh, my God, I just need to say it because I don't know.

I don't know. I didn't make sure I pay everybody. And I was all of a sudden I became this responsible person because other people's livelihood and life were in my hands. that's awesome and so can you tell me a little bit about that first team that you had and I'm sure along that five or six years there was some attrition there were people that left and maybe open their own gym hopefully but so what what was it like what would you think are some things that lessons that maybe you learn with that first group of people that you manage to your team actually expanding and then having to manage a larger group of people the biggest lesson I learned is that you know when you get it team, the most important thing is for you to be able to relate your culture, your vision, and your mission as a team. You know, everybody needs to work as a team for one mission and have that single vision to be able to strive for. You know, another thing I learned is to, you know, to learn to hire, uh, higher, uh, slow and fire fast, you know, I wish I always did the opposite thing.

you know, I, you know, I see somebody, oh, he's good, oh, she's good, oh, my God, that looks awesome. Okay, you're hired. And then they don't perform or they don't show up and I give them a second, third, fourth, ten chances. And, you know, it used to be so frustrating. So I made a lot of mistakes, you know, with the team in the beginning. I've learned a lot. I've never had management, you know, roles. I never had nobody taught me down in school.

It was all trial and error. And I messed so many things up, so many things up, Jordan. You know, and I look back, I'm like, oh, my God. Have I had, you know, a mentor from the beginning? Have I had someone to guide me? Have I had better circle of influence? Have I had a board of advisors? I would have been a billionaire, not a millionaire.

Well, and that's probably a great lesson, right, for you to learn. And when you look back, you know, I'm really a big believer that we're of some total of all our failures as long as we learn from them in life. You know, like that's where we get our success as we went through this and we're like, well, if I would have did that, like you said, for millionaire to billionaire. And it's so crazy how small of a tweak or how minute of an ad sometimes it is that really can kind of push you over that edge. And so now you've got a hundred, is it 110 locations?

I'm 110, 120, some of it just a couple, right? Got a good amount of location. So how is Operation Life now? And are you heavily involved in all the gyms? Or I know you franchised them out, I believe. So how involved are you? And what is similar from that first team to today as far as culture, vision, mission?

Is it exactly the same? Or kind of for the audience, what kind of tweaks have you made? No, we have evolved. business is always evolving. You'll always have to tweak your motion statement, your business statement, you have to constantly tweak your procedures. You know, business is a is a live animal, you know, where you constantly have to evolve with the times, constantly have to evolve with the technology, constantly have to evolve with your people, and making sure you stay on top of, you know, all aspects of your business. So our business, be

is nothing like our business now, and our business now will be nothing like our business in a couple years, you know, and that's why you always evolve. If you don't evolve, you desult. You know, you know, same thing that happens with like Blockbuster Video, you know, you have to stay constant changing. You have to, you know, dedicate yourself to improvement in all aspects. absolutely and you know i know you're you're involved in social i know it's it seems to be something that you enjoy and um and what would you see the say the biggest difference is from you were the social media meaning you're the human walking on the pavement and knocking on doors versus now where you can literally create a piece of content and it can reach hundreds of thousands or millions

of people yeah i often laugh right now when people say well it's so hard today to get leased it's so hard for me to get in front of people. I'm like, wait a second. Back in a day, man, you know, we had yellow pages. You're back in the day, like I said, we had like, we had to put an ad in a magazine and then hope somebody called or, you know, watch for 10 miles and put 2,000, you know, door hangers hoping I get five calls. Now you can go in there and put a video and get 20, 30 DMs in a matter of minutes, you know, as long as you are doing it constantly, as long as you are having a unique selling proposition or a unique product, not just a me too, as long as you're authentic, you know, I think this is this is the best economy. This is the best marketplace. This is

the best era for you to launch a business. But the problem is that most people are just copying other people. Most people are trying to be somebody they're not on the internet. Most people are just like flexing on Instagram, you know, and they're not being, you know, authentic to themselves. My pastor says something that always always stays with me and says, you know what, you are born and original. Don't die a copy. Wow. That's super powerful. Absolutely, man.

And I always remind myself, no matter who, no matter what, I am who I am. You know what I mean? You know, when people see me, you know, in person, like, well, you're the same person that on Instagram and what's porn on. I do. I always got to be only one way. You know, I wholeheartedly believe that the only person that, you know, that's the same person that, that I really need to focus on pleasing is myself. And what I think about myself is ultimately more important

than what anybody thinks of me. Because I have to take myself to bed every night. I have to feel good about myself every night. And the other person, obviously, is a man upstairs. I'm gonna make sure that he's happy with me. And I'm doing good and all that kind of stuff. But other people's opinion, you know, it doesn't really matter.

A lot of people just care so much about how many likes they get or how many comments they get and how popular, We have a society right now that people are just always on Instagram posting and flexing and doing podcasts and they're fucking broke. They're broke. And I'm going like, wait a second. How can you dedicate so much time to podcasting? How much so much on Instagram and all that kind of stuff? And you really don't have any money.

You can't pay your bills. Let's focus on you paying your bills first. Let's come up with a hustle, you know, not trying to be popular on Instagram, not trying to interview people. I'm all about that. But let's take your first thing first. That's absolutely right. Yeah. And I think it's a great extension of your brand, right?

It's another way for you to reach and impact people. But I think you're right. And I think you have to have a career path, right, or a business or something else besides just a show. Right. And so I really enjoy that you said that. So my field, I do training and development. So I'm involved in creating, I teach a six-month leadership program.

And it's in an industry that's property management. So our company, we own and manage luxury apartments across the country. And as you know right now, apartments, it's a big industry, right? Because if you, we have people that say, you know what, instead of a home, I'm going to go where maintenance is taken care of. Like, I have to cut my grass. I don't have to do this. So our industry is really thriving.

So in the area that you're in, what have you noticed about? apartments and and how they've really changed and from you know when you first came to the States to today well when I first came to States apartments were like shitty apartments you know you know it was like we were living in the apartment it was like oh my God you're poor you know and now we live apartment man is like no you know you got super wealthy you know people live in apartment because they just don't want like you said they don't want to deal with the house they don't want to deal with H-O-A's and they don't want to do you know cut

the grass and they don't they want to to live somewhere where everything is taken care of you know some of these apartments man i mean they're just wow you know um you know i would have mind living there you know if i was single and you have you know a bunch of kids you know i would mind living in an apartment where everything's taken care of and then all i can do is concentrate on work so yeah so yeah apartments you know apartments have changed so much over the years it's not land's home no more. It's a real place for people to go. And, you know, apartments now have amazing, you know, offices and amazing, you know, basketball courts and pool and tennis and and butlers. Some of them have butlers, you know, it's just, I've seen it all. Yeah, yeah,

it definitely has. And that's really, we try to, we build a lot of high-end stuff. And it's amazing. We're getting six, seven thousand dollars a month for, for some of the rents. And And, you know, that wasn't happening back in the 90s, you know. It was if you lived it one, people actually looked at you in a certain way. But now it's like, oh, you live in an apartment, cool, you know. So definitely it's been a big culture shift. And I think a lot of it has really been attributed to people wanting this live, work, play lifestyle, right? Where you can literally, you can have people over to play pool.

You can go swimming at your pool and then you can walk to the restaurant next door. Exactly. There's like restaurants and shops right below. And all that one of my friends, I was, you know, it's like paying $20,000, $25,000 a month. Wow. Or, you know, for basically an apartment, you know, and it's obviously, you know, Beverly Hills and a high rise and, you know, they have everything right there. They have a robot that comes in and brings their stuff.

I'm like, wow, this is crazy. Absolutely. And so one of the things that I teach in a leadership class is it's an emotional intelligence class. And, you know, one of the things that that I've known. noticed, you know, when you're a practitioner, when you're learning and when you're taking in this information, and then when you really understand what it's all about, it's very easy to see people that have low EQ. And I know you're familiar with the topic. So what are some of the things that you've noticed in certain people, whether it's they're famous or just a friend or a relative, that have higher EQ versus lower? No, I found that EQ is so much more important than IQ. 100%.

You're being able to adjust to a situation and be able to remain emotionally stable and be able to take in a situation, don't react or overreact, and just analyze it and then, you know, react and do things accordingly. There's so much value in that. You know, we live in a world that everybody is always reacting by the way. Always, you know, you know, you know, losing cool. And the person who can remain calm under pressure, the person who can be able to think clearly under pressure, when the world is closing down on you, when everything's coming at you, be able to be able to function at a high level, that's the that's the person that I want on my team.

I always think of EQ as, you know, for some reason, for me, whenever I think about EQ, James Bond comes to my mind. You know, the 007, you know, I grew up watching that. It was one of my favorite series, you know, and I always remember, you know, people are shooting at, shooting at 007, there was bombs, this and that, he always remained cool. And he just, you know, he just acted the core.

You know, you know, I've saw I've seen Floyd Mayweather in the ring where you know he is the guy's coming at his boxing in the ring and he hears somebody commentating and he's coming he's having a conversation with a commentator while he's boxing in a match that to me is emotional intelligence for you be able to be so cool under pressure that be able to still perform at a high level. that's absolutely right and you know it's it's almost one of those things that you it's almost like a sense sometimes you know when you meet somebody that has really low EQ um because their their actions it's it's almost like you can see them you know as they're happening yeah it's very it's very erratic and a guy that comes to mind was a phenomenal tennis player but peter mackenro super super low E.

Q, right? Sorry, John McIrororo. That's right. John McGrone. But like super, super low EQ. I mean, the guy couldn't control himself.

And it got him in a lot of trouble, you know, and it painted a picture not only with, with the people that were at, like, playing against him, but for everybody. I remember John,

man. Gosh, man. The guy's always breaking, I'll break in his tennis and always arguing with the, you know, empire. And, you know, it's,

you know, You know, it's crazy. I don't know about you, but as I got over, my, my EQ has increased. You know, what used to bother me doesn't bother me as much anymore. And also, whenever you go through so much adversity in life, then your EQ increases. Because then if you overcame adversity, over adversity, over adversity, over adversity, and you're like, hey, those things didn't kill me. Neither shall this.

you know, you're able to stay cool under pressure and be able to perform. So have I not gone through so much adversity, you know, I wouldn't build so much wisdom. And my EQ would have been a lot lower. Somebody who has not seen anything, has never been through adversity. They're going to automatically have a lower EQ than somebody who has. You know what? It's crazy you say that, man, because it really makes a lot of sense now. So before I was 19 years old, I had in fourth grade, I got stung by 53 bees and lived to tell about it.

In seventh grade, I got beat up by police. I was falsely arrested. They thought I was a Hispanic runaway. Bruised ribs just beat me, you know. And then at 19, I got in a car accident. We flipped three times going 70 and had to have 52 staples and laser surgery. And I lived to tell about it. And I really, when you said that just a minute ago, it was like,

that really does make perfect sense because the lens that I see life through is way different than if I never would have had those experiences, you know? And so that really, really makes a lot of sense. And so what are some things that are on your agenda? I know you said your business is always evolving. You're always looking for the next thing. So what are some things, maybe some behind the scene things for the audience? And you'd have to go into super detail if it's super secret. But I'm just interested kind of, you know, what you're thinking about in terms of your business growth over the next decade or so. I mean, my answer is going to surprise you. You know, I'm at a point in my life that, you know, I pick my battles.

And to me, nothing is more important than time. And nothing is more important than spending that time with my family and my children. So, you know, whenever a business opportunity or something comes to my mom, mind, I automatically analyze it. Is this worth my time away from the family? Is this worth my time to work on? Because I rather take this time and be with the family. And 99% of the time, the answer is no.

You know, so I've learned to, as I got a little bit older and wiser, to simplify everything and not try to chase 100 different rabbits. You know, I chase one or two rabbits. and I go all in those two things. And then the rest of the time, I focus on what really makes me happy, which is spending time with my children and my family. That's awesome. And so how many kids do you have?

I have three. So I have a 10-year-old girl, a 6-year-old girl, and I have a 8-month-old baby boy. That's awesome, man. Well, congrats on the newest edition, 8 months in. So I'm a father myself as well. my wife and I, we have two boys and two girls, so four. And June 30th, we're expecting another boy.

So we're going to have three boys, two girls. You know, we got a starting five, you know. So if you're a basketball team, right? Yeah, we got our basketball team, man. But, you know, fatherhood, being a parent, it's such a blessing. And you learn so much about yourself, right? Like, that's been the biggest thing for me. like I'm 39, my wife is 37, and so we're kind of the young parents.

Well, now we've got this new one coming, so we're not going to be the young parents, right, for much longer. But, you know, just watching them grow and seeing the transitions and, you know, their personalities come into life, man. What a rewarding experience it is. It is, you know, and to me, that that's what I live for. I really do, you know. And so I've learned that simplification is the ultimate. form of sophistication. You know, you know, you know, you know, sophistication, you know, you want to simplify life. You don't want to, you know,

you want you want you really concentrate on making sure you're playing the right game. If you're running around, running around, running around, chasing all these things and you next thing you know, your son doesn't even know you, your daughter doesn't even know you, how good is that? You know, so, um, you know, I never want to play the wrong game. I don't want to be on my deathbed and and say, well, you know, I wish I, you know, I wish I went after this venture. No, I wish I'd spend more time with my kids and got to know them more and play with them more. I love that, man.

I love that about your character and, you know, I'm sure your kids are really going to love the fact that they know their dad. You know, dad was a part of these experiences that, as you know, at these ages, I mean, they're instrumental. The father-daughter dance, you know, being able to be, I just went to, I just went to, my fifth grader, she's 11, it was her last father-daughter dance that we just had. And, and, you know, that's, that's a little emotional, right? Because it's, it's her, it's her last one. And, and our other daughter's eight. And so she's got a couple more to go.

But, yeah, it's super important to be, to really be a part of their lives and to also make a positive impact where you can. Okay. Yeah, I, 100%, man, I'm, you are a stud. So you get, you have to escalate? You have the big one? Yeah, we're going to have to upgrade our SUV here soon. So I think it seats seven or eight, but yeah, we're going to need one of those big church buses, church vans probably at some point. For sure, man.

I have one of those. So, you know, they come in, definitely come in handy. Absolutely. All right. So as we wrap up here, you know, you've had this really amazing journey from, you know, starting out in the war, coming to the states with a – and seeing a different. picture than you saw in the movies. And then, you know, finishing up school, fulfilling your mom's dream of being a doctor, and now really, really building this amazing business of over 110 to 20 gym.

So if you could with the audience, what are maybe the three tips that you can give for anyone that's out there that wants to start their own thing, right? But they want to do it right because the way that I've seen you do things is, you know, It's been cool to learn about your journey because every time you've really had these pivots, right? These like moments where you've shifted and you've made the necessary tweaks that have really gotten you to where you are today. So what three tips?

And if you, you know, can think of more, that's fine, but that you can share for someone maybe you want to start their journey. First thing first, you know, I would say the biggest factor would be just started. It's never going to be a perfect time. you know a lot of times we'll wait to everything becomes perfect we're waiting for the sun and the moon to align the right place and the right time kind of like everyone you know wants to put a perfect time to start there's no perfect time to start you just have to start you know you some people aim aim aim aim aim aim never shoot I always say you know you know shoot then aim and course correct

along the way but if you don't shoot nothing ever happens so action trumps everything you know And if you make a mistake, no big deal, learn from it, move on. You know, that's just going to be life. You are going to make some mistakes and you're going to decrease the chance of making mistakes, you know, by getting mentors or talking to people who already done what you want to do. So, you know, it's like a shortcut to your success. The second thing is going to be, I don't care what business you're in. I really don't care what business you're in.

You know, you've got to have a relational business, not a transactional business. you know in this day and age no matter what you're doing there are a hundred people within a few my radius of doing the same thing as you're not unique so people don't care about what you know until they know how much you care so if we treat people relationally all the time and take care of them you are going to be successful but if you just treat people like a transaction like there's a dollar sign to them you'll never get anywhere you know third if you're going to start a business, make sure you know what's your KPI. KPI stands for key performance indicators. You know, what numbers are you looking at? What what you need to be? What is your

state open number? You know, what is the cost of acquiring a customer? What is a lifetime value of your customer? You know, what is your total overhead? You know, these are some things that you need to know because if you don't know your numbers in your business, You basically are driving around blindly and you don't know what to do. What doesn't get measured can be managed. Love that, man. I love those tips. And for the audience, you know, write those down, right?

I'm definitely going to make sure I write those down because I think, like you said, those can help anybody. It doesn't matter if you're, you know, selling pianos, if you're, you know, a rapper or anybody. I think those three things are foundational. So I really, really appreciate you sharing those with the audience. And Sam, again, I really, really appreciate your time today. I thank you so much for being on the show. And just in closing, where can the audience find you?

Because I know that people are going to listen to this. They're going to say, man, what a unique story and journey. And, you know, I might want Sam to help my business out. So where can people get a hold of Sam? Sure, it's really easy. You can Google my name, Sam, Backt, T-R. That's B-A-H-T-I-R. Or you can text me directly.

you know, I have a direct text line is 909, 2004015. Awesome. Well, hey, again, I really appreciate your time on the show today. It's been awesome learning more about your story. And I'm sure we're going to be hearing more from you here in the future. Wow, what an awesome episode with Sam, back to your, what an amazing guy. What an amazing journey. And he is living proof, folks, that if you put your mind to something,

you can absolutely accomplish it. You are going to have roadblocks. You are going to have things in your way, but ultimately, you know, hard work really trumps everything. If you want to accomplish something meaningful, it's going to take that hard work to get there. And I really love the fact that he said, you know, what does the next decade look for him? Well, it's spending more time with his family. So I really, really loved his priorities.

I hope you all enjoyed that episode with Sam. And if you liked it, make sure you should subscribe to the podcast if you're not already. And also tell your friends about it. Don't forget as well, if you have an iTunes account, please, please, please rate it, review it. That will definitely help us be able to reach as many people as possible. Thanks so much for listening, and I can't wait to chat on the next episode of the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast.